


Equipment Exchange

by DeliveryHomo



Category: Tales of Berseria, Tales of Series
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Mention of Rokurou/Eizen, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29686365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeliveryHomo/pseuds/DeliveryHomo
Summary: Magilou witnesses Eleanor and Velvet exchanging equipment after a battle. So of course, she needs to push the issue as far as she possibly can.
Relationships: Velvet Crowe/Eleanor Hume
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	Equipment Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> I made this after spending like five minutes exchanging equipment between all party members and laughing at the idea of them actually switching it around but I have to admit it became an excuse to just write Magilou's POV halfway through.
> 
> There are no late-game spoilers, so you're probably okay to read if you haven't completed the game but already have Eleanor in your party.

It happened so casually, Magilou almost missed it.

They had just finished wiping out a herd of those nasty boar-looking daemons in the cold Northgand fields. Velvet had dealt the finishing blow to the last of them, as she often did, and was now searching whatever they had left behind after disappearing into thin air, looking for some loot besides the scrap of gald here or there. Magilou was idly staring at the scenery, while everyone else wiped out the sweat off their brows or the blood off their blades. See, that's the good thing about her cute little guardians: she didn't even need to clean them after a battle. How convenient, indeed!

A faint shine just off the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned to see Velvet had found one of those handy protective rings among the few things the daemon had left behind. The therion inspected it for a moment, flipping it over and looking at it from all angles, before taking off the ring she was already wearing on her right hand and replacing it with the new one. She opened and closed her hand a few times as if trying out how it felt. Apparently, it felt okay because she turned around towards the rest of the group.

"Hey, Eleanor. Take this" She said and threw her old ring towards the ginger. The girl must have been trained on "catching small objects thrown towards you with little to no warning" in the Abbey, because she caught the small ring as if it was nothing. She stared at it for a moment, before giving Velvet a slightly puzzled look. The other girl just shrugged nonchalantly "You haven't changed or enchanted your ring in a while. I figured you could use a new one right about now."

"Oh," Eleanor replied. She looked at the ring, examining it the same way Velvet had for a moment, before looking at her again "You're right, this should be more useful than my old ring. Thank you, Velvet"

The dark-haired girl just made a sound like a "don't mention it" mixed in with “whatever” and probably “let’s go kill some more daemons”, all said at the same and very grumbly. Ah, Velvet. Always so eloquent and refined.

She walked past Magilou, once again positioning herself at the front of the party, and they all started moving again. She wasn’t quite sure why Velvet was always the one leading them, but no one had ever complained. For all of her edginess as her faults, she was a strong fighter and a good judge of when they should stop to fight, or when to just run past annoying-looking daemons.

The witch was about to take her usual position - in front enough to be able to participate in battles, but not too much that enemies would just attack her on sight - when the scene she had just witnessed finally finished processing inside her mind.

Oh. _Oohhhhhh._ To think she had almost passed a golden opportunity like this! Curse Velvet and Eleanor for acting so casually, she had almost forgotten to be annoying!

So, in order to not tarnish her reputation, she fell off her usual position to sneak behind Eleanor, who was walking at the rear of their group like nothing had happened.

"Wow," The witch said. This made Eleanor turn her head back a little, to acknowledge that she was talking to her "who would have thought that Velvet would be such a romantic, huh?"

The girl gave her a puzzled look. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Magilou's mischievous smile only grew wider. Which caused Eleanor to get that look on her face, the "oh no, Magilou is about to say something" look. Ah, the look that made her life worth living.

"I'm just saying… a ring? That’s a pretty romantic gift, don’t you think?”

Eleanor frowned for a moment as if she wasn’t quite sure what Magilou was talking about. But before long, she had a faint blush on her cheeks and was clutching her right hand, where she wore her new ring.

“Magilou! It’s nothing like that, and you know it”

The blonde just smiled and put her arms around her head casually. “Oh, really? Because Velvet’s never given _me_ a used ring. Or Eizen or Rokurou, for that matter”

“T-That’s…” She could tell the blush on Eleanor’s face was only growing redder, which was exactly what she had been looking for. She was so good at pushing people’s buttons, it was almost scary! “That’s because she knows you three can take care of your own equipment. She only cares about what I’m using because of Laphicet”

“Oho, but then that means she’s always keeping a good eye on you.”

“Of course she is, but that’s because she barely even trusts me” Eleanor frowned. For someone who thought nothing of all this, she was looking rather embarrassed. And a little sad, too.

“Well, she barely even trusts me either. Doesn’t change the fact that she gave you her old ring instead of just telling you to get a new one”

Eleanor’s face was now almost as red as her hair. She stopped a moment to take a breath, and then looked at Magilou again. “Listen. We all exchange equipment when we’re out in the field and someone finds something new. There’s no deeper meaning to it, and you’re just trying to make me embarrassed because you’re bored, and making fun of people is your idea of fun. Now let’s get going, or they’ll leave us behind”

She turned her eyes away from Magilou, puffed, and turned to walk towards the front of the group until she was next to Laphicet, who started talking to her once she reached him. Oh well. She hadn’t been able to really press all of Eleanor’s buttons, but it had been fun. And who knew, maybe she’d get the chance to keep pushing this issue sometime soon.

* * *

It actually came way sooner than she was expecting.

They were all on the Van Eltia, on their way to Port Zekson. They’d received news of a new powerful daemon terrifying people around Loegres, and of course, Rokurou wasn’t just going to let them pass out a chance to fight a daemon so strong. Gosh, it must be nice having your brain filled with nothing but swords and fighting all the time, Magilou thought.

She’d just been walking around the main deck when she noticed something rather unusual. Eleanor was talking to Eizen, the two of them completely alone. Now that wasn’t a sight you saw every day! She doubted Eizen really had anything against Eleanor anymore, but the human was so sweet and awkward she probably still felt really bad about all the things she’d said about malakhim while being an exorcist. Oh, and the whole “almost betraying everyone” thing, too.

So of course, with such an unusual occurrence happening right in front of her eyes, Magilou couldn’t just pretend nothing was happening. She snuck around, hidden just out of sight but close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“So. What is it, Eleanor?” Eizen was the first to talk. It seemed Eleanor had been the one to approach him, which made this whole situation even more unusual.

“Well, you see…” The girl wasn’t meeting the malak’s eyes. If Magilou hadn’t known better, she could almost have misinterpreted the situation as a flustered girl talking to the boy she liked. But since she did know better, everything just looked way too awkward to even put into words “I was just wondering. About Velvet…”

“What about her?” Eizen frowned.

“I just… I noticed she bought you new equipment on the port.”

“And? I always leave that stuff up to her so I can check on the crew and make sure they’re ready to set sail as soon as possible.”

“Y-Yeah, you’re right. But I was wondering if…” The girl closed her fists as if giving herself a little push of courage “Listen, has she ever given you a ring?”

Eizen’s face was a poem. Magilou had never seen the malak look so confused. “A ring? Not that I can remember, but it’s not like I pay that much attention to that sort of thing.”

“Oh… I see.” Eleanor looked at her own hands, as she twiddled with her fingers “Of course. Well, sorry for bothering you!”

She turned around and left before Eizen could even say “Sure, I guess?”. As she approached Magilou, she looked even more embarrassed than she had back in Northgand. The witch finally left her hiding place, smirking towards the ginger.

“So, there’s no deeper meaning to the ring, huh?”

“EEK!” Eleanor had been looking at the floor so intently, she hadn’t noticed Magilou at all. So when she spoke, the girl was so shocked she punched towards her on instinct. Thankfully, Magilou had the reflexes of a cat and managed to evade the attack easily. “Magilou! Don’t scare me like that!”

“Geesh, remind me not to do that when you’re carrying your weapon. You might turn me into a delicious witch kebab”

“I-It’s not my fault! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Eleanor sighed “Did you need something?”

“I was just saying…” Magilou shrugged “It kind of seems like you’re giving the ring a bit more thought than you said you would, huh?”

Once again, Eleanor’s face turned into a deep red “You were listening!?”

“Hey, it’s a small ship! What else am I supposed to do to stay entertained, if not eavesdrop on people?”

“Magilou, I swear…” She sighed “Whatever you think you heard, it was nothing like that.”

“Are you sure? Because what I heard is that you’re thinking about Velvet’s gift waaaay more than you said you would”

“I-It’s not a gift, it’s just a ring!”

“Whatever you say” Magilou shrugged “Still looks like you’re thinking about it”

“I…” Eleanor looked away. For a moment, it almost felt like she was going to say something. But before she could, she just shook her head. “It’s nothing important. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to check on Laphicet.”

And just like that, she was gone.

Man, that girl was no fun. She got worked up easily, but she always left right before Magilou could keep pushing any further. How annoying!

Still… Even if she hadn’t had much luck messing with her, it hadn’t all been for nothing. She had only pushed the issue initially because of the “let’s annoy Eleanor” factor, but now it seemed like she had uncovered something else. Something much juicier, at that.

It was worth keeping an eye on it!

* * *

A few days later, they were camping out in the fields of Midgand. They had been following that code red daemon (again, at Rokurou’s insistence), but the damned thing was so far into the fields, it’d gotten dark before they even realized it. They couldn’t go back to Loegres to rest, so their only option was to set camp. It’s not like they weren’t used to it, but it wasn’t exactly Magilou’s favourite thing in the world, either.

At first, when it’d only been Velvet, Rokurou and herself, she could sort of stand it. Rokurou moved like crazy in his sleep, but Velvet slept so soundly she didn’t mind. So the key had been sleeping with Velvet between herself and Rokurou, so she’d get most of the blows to the head. That had gotten a little more complicated when Laphicet joined them since he insisted on sleeping next to Velvet. But Velvet didn’t want the kid to be sandwiched in between her and Magilou, so she’d made her sleep on Rokurou’s other side. Oh, how much sleep she’d lost back then! Then Eizen had joined the menagerie, and thankfully he slept like a rock, so he didn’t mind getting kicked in the leg all night. He’d started sleeping between Rokurou and Magilou, saving her once again from Rokurou’s sleepy kicks and punches. But by then, it was five people, including two fully grown men, sleeping in a tiny little tent haphazardly put together in the middle of a field infested by daemons. Not the best place to sleep.

Of course, Eleanor had been outraged when she’d found out their sleeping arrangements. But it’s not like she could do anything to help it, at least not until they found the Van Eltia again after their little earthpulse adventure, so she’d just slept next to Laphicet. The poor kid would probably have been happy about it if any of them had been able to get any sleep at all those few nights.

So thankfully, Eleanor had bought a second, bigger tent for them to use the moment she’d had the chance. Now their camp was slightly bigger, making it easier to spot, but at least they could all sleep _and_ breathe now.

Laphicet had fallen asleep against Velvet, so she’d carried him to the boy’s tent. The kid sometimes snuck to the girl’s tent to sleep, especially if he’d had a nightmare, but he wasn’t stubborn enough to insist on sleeping with them instead of with Eizen and Rokurou or to just sleep inside Eleanor’s mind.

“You should all go to sleep,” The ginger said when Velvet came back to the campfire, where they were all sitting “I’ll do the first watch”

Magilou stood up with a jump “If you insist, then! Nighty night!”

“Good night then,” Eizen said as he stood up.

“Wake me up if you need any help dealing with a daemon!” Rokurou smiled, as he and Eizen entered their tent.

“Sleep well, everyone” Eleanor smiled. Magilou entered her empty tent with a yawn and proceeded to take off all of her equipment (and her book skirt, which was very fashionable but not very comfortable for sleeping). She had just gotten into her sleeping bag when she realized she was still all by herself in her tent. Which meant Eleanor and Velvet were…

Oh, these children! They were basically begging her to eavesdrop on all their conversations!

So she rolled to the edge of the tent and unzipped a bit of the entrance. Just enough to see what was going on outside, but not enough to be noticeable.

For a few minutes, the two girls just sat in awkward silence, with some space between the two of them. But before long, the unmistakable sound of Eizen’s snores and Rokurou’s sleepy grunts filled the air. Honestly, Magilou didn’t know why they bothered with keeping watch. The sounds those two made when they were sleeping were enough to keep any daemons from coming too close.

After a few more awkward moments, Eleanor spoke: “You’re not going to sleep?”

“I’m not sleepy” Velvet replied, in her usual tone.

Eleanor looked at the small campfire again. She looked troubled. Though to be honest, she always seemed a little bit troubled.

“You said you only ever have nightmares. Is that true?”

Velvet looked at her “Yeah. Ever since that night.”

“That’s…” Eleanor turned her head down “That’s terrible.”

“I don’t need your pity.” Velvet’s tone made even Magilou flinch a little. Sheesh, that girl had no tact in her whatsoever “Besides, you get used to it.”

“But that’s even worse! I… I don’t know how you can stand it.”

“As I said. You get used to it.”

“I guess…”

They fell into an awkward silence again, interrupted only by the snoring and the grunting from the boy’s tent. The air between them was so tense, she felt like she could throw Bienfu at them and he’d just bounce right back in her direction. Maybe she should just go to sleep. She knew how awkward these two were, and her eavesdropping wasn’t going to make the situation any more interesting.

“Actually, I wanted to thank you” Eleanor broke the silence once again, and it was enough to convince Magilou to keep her post.

“Thank me? What for?”

“Well… F-For the ring you have me the other day.” From her position, Magilou could see that Eleanor was twiddling with that very same ring as she spoke. “I mastered its skill before. It’s quite useful.”

Velvet looked confused in the dim light of the fire. She stared at Eleanor one moment, then turned her gaze away “Don’t mention it.” She replied, “I take care of everyone’s equipment.”

“Yeah… I guess you do.” Eleanor looked a bit sad “But still, that’s very thoughtful of you. So thank you.”

Oh my oh my! Were her eyes deceiving her, or did Velvet look a little bit flustered? The tip of her ears looked all red! Then again, it could just have been the lighting… But still!

“I guess you’re welcome, then. Just keep yourself alive, got it?”

“Of course” Eleanor nodded “Laphicet’s life depends on it, after all”

Magilou couldn’t quite read Velvet’s expression, since she could see only the back of her head, but something told her she knew exactly what face she was making. “Not just that. You gotta live for your own sake, not just Phi’s”

Eleanor opened her eyes in surprise and then turned her face away too. Now Magilou couldn’t read her expression either, but she could still see how she fidgeted with her ring.

“Y-You’re right. Thanks.”

Oh my Empyreans! Could you believe this!? This was the closest she’d ever seen Velvet get to emotional vulnerability, without either of the Laphicets being involved. What an incredible breakthrough! And she had seen it all happen with her own two eyes! Truly, she was a blessed witch.

She faintly heard Eleanor yawning in the distance.

“You should rest.” Velvet said.

“But…”

“It won’t do anyone any good if you fall asleep during your watch. Go get some sleep, I’ll wake Rokurou up if I need to switch.”

“...Alright” There was the sound of Eleanor getting up. “Good night, Velvet.”

“Good night.”

Oh crap. Magilou rolled all the way back to the back of the tent and put on her best “I’m totally asleep and haven’t been eavesdropping at all” performance. It seemed to work, as Eleanor opened and closed the door without acknowledging her.

Magilou peeked a little through her right eye. She saw Eleanor sitting on the ground, her clothes neatly folded and her hair down. She was looking at the ring in her right hand with the most tender look Magilou had ever seen. It was so sweet, she wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d suddenly started singing about her everlasting love or something like that. But she raised her eyes, looking in Magilou’s direction. So the witch had to close her eyes again, and this time she did fall asleep for real.

* * *

“It should be somewhere around here” Said Rokurou, staring at the fields ahead of them.

“Keep your eyes open,” Velvet said, as she turned her therion arm back to human form. “If anyone sees it, don’t just charge ahead blindly.” She said that looking straight at Rokurou.

“Hey! It gets the job done.”

Laphicet laughed happily.

It was around noon. They’d been walking around for a few hours, fighting and getting deeper and deeper into the field. Apparently, the code red daemon just didn’t want them to find it, because there’d be no sign of it so far.

They kept walking, killing any daemon that came towards them. At this point, they knew the daemons well enough to not bother too much with them. None of them put much of a fight anymore, which was a good thing. If a little boring.

“Oh!” Laphicet said, pointing ahead “Look, a treasure chest!”

Certainly! An unopened treasure chest was laying on a corner of the field. They walked towards it until Laphicet opened it excitedly. Inside of it was a shiny pair of boots.

“Good job, Phi” Velvet ruffled the malak’s hair, with the sisterly smile she only used with him. “We must have missed it the first time we went through here.”

“And the second. And the third. And the other eight million times we’ve been around here” Magilou chimed in.

“They’re too big for me,” Laphicet said, looking at the boots “Does anyone want them? They seem pretty good.”

“Let me see.” Eizen took the footwear from Laphicet’s hands and inspected it for a moment. He took off his right shoe and inspected it as well. “Yeah, they’re good. I’ll take them.”

The kid gave Eizen the other shoe, and he changed them. Magilou had been pretty surprised when Eleanor hadn’t acted all yucky the first time she’d seen how they changed used shoes and waistcoats if someone found something they liked lying on the ground. Maybe the Abbey training nowadays was about more than just looking pretty and being racist.

“Hey Eizen, if you’re not gonna use them just give me your old boots. Haven’t changed mine in a while” Rokurou said.

“Sure” The earth malak threw his boots towards the daemon, who caught them and proceeded to change.

“Once you’re done with that,” Said Velvet “we’re moving. There’s barely anywhere left for that code red daemon to hide”

Everyone nodded. Rokurou put his old boots back in his bag, and the party continued moving along.

Then, to Magilou’s surprise, Eleanor approached her with a smile that just said “I told you so”.

“See, Magilou? Nothing especially ‘romantic’ about exchanging pieces of equipment.”

The blonde raised her eyebrows like she couldn’t believe what Eleanor was saying.

“You’re kidding, right?”

Eleanor’s smile faded in an instant. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, come on!” She pointed her hand towards Eizen and Rokurou, who were walking ahead of them, both trying to get used to walking on their new shoes “First of all, these two blockheads are physically incapable of being romantic. But secondly, trading shoes is like first base for them. They must be on like, eight of ninth base by now”

“What are you even talking about?” Eleanor frowned.

“What I’m saying is that if you wanted to prove there was nothing romantic about the equipment thing, you shouldn’t have picked those two for your comparison.”

The confusion on the ginger’s face only grew “I really don’t understand what you’re saying right now.”

Magilou had no choice but to gasp, maybe a bit too dramatically. “You’re telling me you haven’t noticed?”

“Noticed what!?”

“That Eizen and Rokurou have been rocking each other’s boat for a while now! If you get what I’m saying.” Magilou winked “It’s definitely not the first time they’ve exchanged clothes.”

Once again, Eleanor’s face looked completely drained of all colour for a second, before going bright red.

“M-Magilou! You can’t just say stuff like that!”

“Stuff like what?” Magilou looked up to see Rokurou, who had fallen behind to join their conversation.

“Oh, I was just talking to Miss Purity here about the bees and the birds.” Magilou shrugged. “And about how Eizen and you have been hooking up ever since he joined the party.”

“Magilou!” Eleanor covered her face with hands, but even those were bright red.

“You knew about that?” Rokurou looked more surprised than embarrassed.

“I have eyes, Rokurou. And ears. Unfortunately.” Magilou shrugged with a sigh “I think Eleanor’s the only one who hadn’t noticed yet. Besides Laphicet, of course.”

“Huh…” Rokurou just scratched the back of his head apologetically. “I mean, it’s not like we were trying to hide it or anything, but still.”

"B-But you're… I mean…" Eleanor babbled, face still completely red.

"Eleanor, I can't believe I have to tell you this but the only straight person in this whole group is Laphicet. And that's just because he's like, three"

The redhead’s eyes quickly glanced over her, as she whispered “Even Velvet…?”

“Ooohh,” Rokurou smiled, rubbing his hand on his chin “I see what this is all about.”

“If you guessed ‘Eleanor’s embarrassing crush’, then bingo!” Magilou cheered “You get a golden star, Rokuboy”

“E-Enough!” Eleanor stopped on her tracks and turned to face her, pointing an accusatory finger at the witch “I’m not listening to you anymore, Magilou! You’re just messing with me because you’re bored and have decided to make up the silliest thing you could to get me upset. And you!” She turned to Rokurou, who looked pretty surprised by Eleanor’s reaction “I can’t believe you would…! With all that’s at stake, and with a little pure little kid in our group…!” Her face was even redder than before, now a mix of embarrassment and shame “You’re impossible, the two of you!”

She stormed off towards the head of the group, accidentally hitting Eizen’s side on her way. She didn’t even turn to apologize to the malak, which was extremely unlike her. Magilou and Rokurou were left standing there, watching as Eleanor stomped her way at the head of the group, a few paces in front of even Velvet. Then, they turned their heads towards each other.

“So…” Rokurou said “About the me and Eizen thing.”

Magilou sighed. “I hope I don’t have to tell you about using protection. But could you please at least turn the volume down a little bit? The ship’s walls are thinner than my magnificent figure, you know?”

Rokurou looked slightly embarrassed for a second, before laughing it off.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. C’mon, let’s catch up with the others”

Oh, Magilou sighed. She was surrounded by the densest people alive.

* * *

“I can’t believe it!” Eleanor sighed. She was looking around her, exasperated “We’ve searched the entire field, and there’s still no sign of that Code Red.”

It had been hours since their last conversation about the whole “Eleanor likes Velvet” thing, which they had spent searching the woods near Loegres to continue their search. It was already becoming dark, and still no sign of the darn thing.

“We must have missed it somehow,” Eizen said, his arms crossed on his chest.

“Aren’t they usually like, super obvious though?” Magilou chimed in “They’re usually alone in their own little corner, like saying “oohhh, I’m the bad guyyy! Feeeaaar meeeee!!” or something” She gestured with her hands, exaggerating her impression of the Code Reds they’d encountered so far.

“What if it’s really small?” Laphicet suggested, “Maybe that’s why we missed it.”

“Hmm… I guess that’s a possibility” The redhead agreed, looking at the small malak. “What do you think, Velvet?”

The girl just shrugged, like all of this was none of her business. “Can’t say I care either way. If we find it, we crush it. But I’m not wasting another day searching for a simple Daemon when we’ve got better things to be doing right now.

“Sheesh, girl” Magilou sighed “Would it kill you to think about something other than revenge and death for one second?”

Velvet shot her one of her usual “I’m going to eat you while you’re sleeping” looks, so Magilou pretended she hadn’t said anything in the first place.

“Still,” Rokurou joined their conversation, “Velvet’s right. I wanted to beat up a strong daemon to train, but we’ve got other places to be. There’s plenty of powerful daemons out there for me to beat.”

“That’s that, then,” Velvet said, turning around “We might be able to make it back to Loegres if we head out now.”

“So this little excursion was all for nothing?” The witch complained, sticking her tongue out.

“I wouldn’t say that” The daemon man smiled “We got some training out of it”

“Ughh” Magilou groaned “I swear to all Empyreans, you have the worst case of one-track-mindedness I’ve seen in my entire life”

Rokurou laughed her comment off like it was nothing, as he turned to follow the rest of the party. They had all begun to trace their steps back to Loegres except for herself and Eleanor, who looked deep in thought.

“Not coming?”

“Huh?” The exorcist looked up to meet her eyes, “Oh, I’m sorry” She apologized, as she started walking towards her and the rest of the group. “But what you said was right. Code Red daemons tend to be very noticeable like they’re always making sure everyone knows they’re the most powerful daemon around. It wouldn’t make sense for us to miss it, or for it to be a small daemon like Laphicet said.” Magilou raised an eyebrow. She still didn’t care much about this daemon hunt or whatever, but apparently, she was the only one not taking it super-seriously. Oh well, it wasn’t really anything new. “But we’ve searched everywhere… Where could it…?”

Her eyes opened wide and she turned around quickly, but not quickly enough. A giant shadow emerged out of the sky, directly towards their group. It was hard to make out any details in the dim light of the field at dusk, but its sharp talons shined as if screaming “come this way if you hate having your guts inside of your body!”.

Magilou’s first instinct was to ready a healing arte to try and save Eleanor _if_ she managed to survive the attack. But before she had her guardians ready, a second shadow shot beside her, black and red and even faster than the flying foe.

Velvet had somehow crossed the distance between her and Eleanor in an instant and had managed to stop the flying shadow with her big therion hand. The daemon, the meanest harpy-like monster Magilou had seen so far, was kicking and biting, trying to get a hold of Velvet, but to no avail.

Eleanor stared at the girl in awe for a second, as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened. Velvet looked away from the daemon to check on the exorcist, before looking back at her prey.

“Looks like you found us our Code Red.” She said.

The daemon’s talons finally landed a hit against Velvet’s skin, which made her flinch momentarily and lose her grip on it. She released her hidden blade and adopted an offensive stance, as Rokurou, Eizen and Laphicet joined them.

“I’m tired of wasting time,” Velvet said, retracting her therion hand. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Eleanor stood up, readying her spear, though she still looked like she wasn’t sure what had just happened. Magilou readied her guardians and began casting a malak art, as the fight began around her.

And honestly? This daemon was kind of overhyped.

It wasn’t a walk in the park or anything, but it was definitely not the strongest Code Red they’d faced yet. It must have forgotten to attack them back when they were first in Midgand and the daemons around them were even slightly threatening. As the monster dissolved into black shadows, Magilou didn’t feel much stronger or like she’d learned anything particularly interesting. But hey, Rokurou seemed satisfied at last, so that was something. And the daemon had dropped some gald, which was always a good thing.

Eleanor was the only one who still seemed a little out of it by the time the battle ended. Everyone was putting their weapons away, as usual, but she hadn't even wiped the blood out of her spear yet.

As Magilou observed her, something seemed to catch the red head’s attention. She walked a few steps and leaned to pick something off the ground. The witch stared as the girl spun the object around her hand.

“Whew!” Rokurou smiled “We can cross that one off the list. Finally!”

“Is everyone alright?” Laphicet said, “Does anyone need healing?”

“I need some food rather than healing” Eizen shrugged, as he waved the last of the blood off his bracelet. “Let’s go find a place to camp.”

The three of them began walking before Eleanor had finished studying the object. When she noticed she was being left behind once again, she ran a few paces to catch up with Velvet.

“V-Velvet, wait!” She called out.

The girl turned around to look at the exorcist, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

Eleanor stopped on her feet, just before reaching the other girl. Magilou realized very quickly what was happening here: Eizen and the rest had already left to set up camp, and these two didn’t seem to notice she was still here. In other circumstances, she would’ve been hurt to be ignored like this, but now… This was a golden opportunity!

She snuck around a bit, to make sure she was out of view from the two lovebirds but still within earshot, as Eleanor fiddled with her fingers nervously.

“Uhm… Thank you for saving me earlier.” She said.

Velvet put a hand on her hip like she didn’t understand why Eleanor even needed to say that. “We’ve been through this before. It’d be a problem if you got hurt.”

“Right…” Eleanor nodded, a faint smile on her face. “It’s just that… Well…”

The dark-haired girl looked back, towards where Laphicet and the others had gone. For a second, Magilou was worried she was about to be discovered, but Velvet noticed her, she didn’t show it.

“If you’ve got something to say, you better say it. Before we get separated again.”

Eleanor bit her lip nervously. Then, she just showed Velvet the item she had picked up before. A shining, golden ring.

“I-I just wanted to give you this! I picked it up before, from that Code Red.” The girl said, looking away. Her face was red as her hair, and Magilou could almost hear her heartbeat from where she stood.

Velvet looked surprised as she took the item in her hands. “This is…”

“I know it’s the same kind of ring you were wearing before, but it looks like this one has been enhanced previously. It should be more helpful than the one you’re wearing right now… or the one you gave me.”

The girls stood there in silence for a second. And then, Magilou noticed something incredible.

Velvet was blushing. And it was so obvious that even Magilou could see it, and even despite the lack of light due to the sunset. The only person who didn’t seem to notice was Eleanor, and that was probably just because she was still blushing and looking away herself.

This couldn’t be real. Was this really happening? Was Velvet really _blushing_ like a schoolgirl?

How could she do this to her!? No one was going to believe her when she told everyone about this!

“T-Thanks.” Velvet finally broke the silence between them. She hastily took off the ring she was currently wearing to replace it with the new one. Eleanor simply nodded.

“I-It’s no problem! You’d do the same for me. I mean, for all of us!”

Oh my gods, what a couple of lovebirds. They were just impossible.

“You two should get a room!” She sang, hopping out from her hiding place and towards the two girls, like a bird flying straight into the jaws of a crocodile. “Or do you want me to take the first watch tonight so you two can have some time alone together?”

The red in Velvet’s face change in an instant. From blushing schoolgirl talking to her crush to absolute, boiling anger. Eleanor’s, on the other hand, turned even deeper at the realization that Magilou had listened to their whole conversation.

“Magilou” Velvet growled as she unleashed her therion hand. “You have two seconds.”

“To what?” She smirked, laughing in the face of death. “Get ready to officiate the wedding?”

“Zero.”

Her quick instincts saved her from becoming therion food, and she took off on a dash with Velvet quick behind her, leaving Eleanor practically blushing to death, still back in her place.

As she ran, Magilou spotted the rest of the group and smiled.

“Rokurou! You’re not gonna believe this!”


End file.
